Resume Writing for the Unique Professional

About Us

Who we are: WildlandFireCareers.com is based out of Northern California and has been providing resume writing services for professional firefighters for many years. It is owned and operated by Bethany Hannah, a former wildland firefighter with the US Forest Service and BLM.

Bethany has a background in wildland firefighting as well as technical writing. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and has a Master’s degree in Wildland Fire Management and Communications. Her technical writing experience ranges from work on fire management plans to freelance business writing. She also worked as an HR Consultant and Director of Training and Education Services at Avue Technologies Corporation. Additionally, she has given presentations and workshops at the National Wildland Fire Apprenticeship Program, the Angeles, Shasta-Trinity, Mendocino, Plumas, and Cibola National Forests, the West Yellowstone and Missoula Smokejumpers, and Redding IHC on Federal Wildland Fire Applications, Resumes, and Career Development.

A Few Testimonials:

“Wow! I want to thank you for creating an outstanding and professional resume. What you put together for me was the primary reason that I got the job…Keep up the excellent work. And thanks again for helping me to get this promotion.” – D.B.

“If it was not for Wildland Fire Careers, I would not be a Superintendent! I will recommend your services to everyone.” -F.B.

“Bethany thank you for your service/help converting my resume from a rambling essay to a professional bullet format. I am finally proud of my resume. 🙂 I have accepted an FEO position on the [Forest] – this fall fire hire. Finally, I got the job I’ve had in my sights on for years: my wife and I bought our home five years ago, my commute to work is three minutes, and the group of folks on this engine are awesome! Thank you so much. It was kind of a pipe dream, and with your help it worked out for me! It’s a great feeling to be happy at work again!!!” – M.L.B.

“After several attempts to get a permanent job with the USFS, I was referred to Wildland Fire Careers. Bethany was very helpful and fast. The next round of Fire Hire I got a great job as a Squad Boss.” – P.C.

“Just a note to say thanks for the great work you did on my application/resume. I recently accepted the job offer for the <strike> IHC Superintendent.” – J.H.

“I have handed [my resume] out multiple times and each time the receiver says “Holy s–t!.” It blows them away. It captures and gives everything that they are looking for. I even get giddy when handing it out.” – D.B.

Our Goal: We are dedicated to becoming the place to go for wildland fire career information. It is our hope to supplement the information and sites already available on the web by assisting wildland firefighters with getting through the application process.

Benefits of a professional resume: We know that it is difficult to think about your own professional experience in an objective manner. If there is one thing that we have learned over years of writing resumes, it’s that most people (firefighters, in particular) hate to talk about how they stand out. Nevertheless, it is simply not good enough to say, “I just do my job…”

Employers don’t just want their employees to do their jobs – they want their people to excel at their jobs. The biggest benefit that we offer is our ability to take your experience and help you to accurately portray not only your distinctions and accomplishments, but exactly what you have to offer as a potential employee.

Is it necessary to have a resume if you’re applying to a federal job? Isn’t it good enough just to fill out the online application? Straight up, the answer is: no, you don’t need a resume to get a federal job. BUT, it also isn’t good enough to just fill out the online application! There are many, many steps that you’ll need to take in order to be a competitive applicant — and the biggest one is demonstrating your willingness to go the extra mile. The best way to do that is by supplementing your application with a federal resume and by networking with a resume in hand.

Sure, you can use free templates to develop your own resume – but you’re probably not going to appear any different from anyone else using MS Word to create their resumes. The point of a resume is to stand out from the rest of the candidates, isn’t it? We create resumes and cover letters that are engaging, straightforward, and attractive. When you hand your resume over, you have less than 10 seconds to make an impact – we make sure the impression the reader gets is that of the highest possible level of professionalism.

Features: Believe it or not, resume writing has a science behind it!!! And certainly, with Human Resource departments using automated technology to scan resumes and applications these days, it is of utmost importance to incorporate specific elements into your document’s design and functionality. We customize your documents to meet hiring standards and showcase your professional strengths – exactly what you need to get to the next step in the hiring process.

We constantly monitor the industry to ensure that our understanding of contemporary hiring standards and resume writing techniques is up-to-date. We incorporate new design elements to not only adhere to cutting-edge technology, but also to appeal to basic human behavior. For example, hiring panels sometimes view hundreds of resumes in a period of only a few days — we make sure that our formatting presents information in a way that is easy to read and has the highest impact. Likewise, we eliminate out-dated writing practices. For example, using Objective Statements in resumes just isn’t very useful anymore (they know you want a job…). We utilize that typically wasted space by incorporating sections that employ keywords and highlight distinctions.

We deliver our final drafts in MS Word and .pdf formats – so that you can use them in a variety of situations, including as attachments in automated hiring systems. We are also available to answer any questions you might have about the typical application process – just give us a shout!

The investment you make now, to have Wildland Fire Careers create your resume and cover letter, is in yourself. We’ll make sure that it pays off by creating an outstanding, professional document!